Sponsors and Partners

The Panini Classroom Challenge returns this September!

The ESFA and Panini were delighted to visit Oliver from year 6 at St Gilbert’s RC Primary School in Manchester last month, to present his prizes for winning the 2022 Classroom Challenge, based on the Premier League Official Sticker Collection 2022.

The design-a-football boot competition, which ran throughout January, saw a staggering 10,000 entries from hundreds of schools across England, in what would be the most popular Classroom Challenge to date. Oliver’s design saw him win a presentation from Panini, where he was awarded with a £2,000 cheque for his school, a £50 Amazon voucher for himself, plus a football shirt of his choice.

Nick Clark, Special Project Editor for Panini UK said, “We were astounded by the number of entries received for the “˜Design a Football’ competition, the quality and hard work that pupils put into their designs was incredible. Oliver’s winning boot was wonderfully imaginative and certainly impressed our judging panel. A big well done to Oliver and the school for winning, it was an honour to visit the school and present them with their prizes.”

A New Challenge for a New School Year

September 2022 sees the 9th Panini Classroom Challenge introduced to primary schools in England with a chance for the winners to bag £2,000 for their school, plus prizes for the winning pupil, presented in school by the Panini team.

This latest challenge, celebrating Panini’s FIFA World Cup Quatar 2022â„¢ Official Sticker Collection, will see participating schools receive a box of Panini goodies for their pupils, including the Classroom Challenge worksheets. The team will be asking pupils embrace a real challenge this time – designing their very own Panini sticker album cover, to secure a place in the running for the prize!

Schools can register to take part in this latest activity by clicking the link below, but hurry – there is only space for 3,000 schools to sign up!

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ClassroomChallenge2022

Registered schools will receive their Panini Classroom Challenge goodies in the new school year, in early September 2022, and the competition will run from 19th September – 7th October 2022.

Don’t forget to register your school today!

National Competitions, The World of Schools' Football

ESFA Open National Cup Competitions for 2020/21

Entries for the 2020/21 National Cup Competitions are now open

The ESFA are delighted to announce that entries for schools and associations to take part in National Cup competitions for the 2020/21 season are now open.

Schools and Associations can now log in to their online accounts, update their information and choose which competitions they would like to enter for the new season, which the ESFA plans to begin in November 2020.

The ESFA have not altered the programme of activity available for schools’ football teams to take part in for the coming season, providing schools and associations with our huge range of footballing competitions to take part in from November 2020.

Competitions entry will remain open until Friday 18 September and the ESFA anticipate that draws will be live on the website from w/c 5 October. It is the ESFA’s intention for competitions to begin in November 2020.

Following The FA’s guidance that was issued in July regarding the return of “˜grassroots’ and schools’ football in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ESFA has created a bank of resources, available on their website, which can be referred to regarding the completion of risk assessments and general advice regarding the return to schools’ football.

On Monday 1 September, the Department of Education also released guidance on the return of recreational team sport, meaning that subject to FA guidance and risk assessments being followed, inter-school football is permitted to take place.

The ESFA is hopeful that the season will be able to begin and run smoothly and safely from November and those schools who are taking part will be kept up to date with any changes in Government guidance that may affect competitions throughout the season as and when necessary.

If your school hasn’t received an email with details on how to enter National Cup competitions for 2020/21, then please contact [email protected] for further information.

The ESFA are very much looking forward to hosting the coming season of Schools’ Football.

For ESFA Schools’ Cup registration go to www.esfa.co.uk/schools

For Association affiliation go to www.esfa.co.uk/associations